


I think we're alone now

by DropsOfAutumn



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 5 Times, 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Friends to Lovers, Gay Disaster Shiro (Voltron), M/M, Pining Shiro (Voltron), S1-S7 Compliant, soft, very soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 08:18:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18245984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DropsOfAutumn/pseuds/DropsOfAutumn
Summary: Shiro wishes his life would give him some slack.One moment he steals a space ship and crash lands on earth and the next day he finds himself in space again, searching for giant robotic cats and commanding four teenagers to save their lives and an age-old alien castle.And all of that before dinner.To be fair, Shiro cannot remember the last time he had dinner. Actually, his mind is quite hazy and scrambled, so the only thing he remembers is going to some Pluto moon after breaking up with his boyfriend and waking up to Keith’s face in the middle of nowhere.Or: 5 times they want to be alone and 1 time they finally are





	I think we're alone now

**Author's Note:**

> As a matter of fact, I did not binge-watch the whole first season of The Umbrella Academy, but this girl here grew up in the 90s and had not heard "Think we're alone now" before the show and then it was like falling in love, head first crash and burn, the usual. I love the imagery of the lyrics and I fell for the line  
> "And then you put your arms around me  
> And we tumble to the ground and then you say"  
> So I had to write Sheith.
> 
> When I started, this was supposed to be light and fluffy and soft. Now it's a 4,5K word character study monster full of feels and angst and suffering. BUT IT'S STILL SOFT, I TELL YOU!
> 
> Have fun :D 
> 
> Soft Sheith Week Day 7: Free Day

1. 

Shiro wishes his life would give him some slack.

One moment he steals a space ship and crash lands on earth and the next day he finds himself in space again, searching for giant robotic cats and commanding four teenagers to save their lives and an age-old alien castle.

And all of that before dinner.

To be fair, Shiro cannot remember the last time he had dinner. Actually, his mind is quite hazy and scrambled, so the only thing he remembers is going to some Pluto moon after breaking up with his boyfriend and waking up to Keith’s face in the middle of nowhere.

He’s simply stopped trying to question everything that happened in the last few hours and days because he’s pretty sure his headache would just get worse. So he can only groan when he has a first minute to himself, slumping down on a bed that seems to be his from now on, in an empty and sterile room of an alien castle on the other side of the galaxy.  
  
‘It’s too much’ he tells himself. ‘This has to be a dream.’ And he pinches his thigh with his metallic hand just to realize it’s not, it’s not a dream and he has really steered a space cat.

There is a knock on the door and he’s surprised to find Keith staring back at him when it slides open. Keith, who is nearly two years older now and has sharper shoulder blades then he remembers. His Garrison uniform gone, traded for black shirt and pants and a ridiculous cropped jacket only Keith could pull off. Still, everything about him radiates pretty much the same Keith-vibes he remembers.

   
“Hey,” Keith says and “Hey,” Shiro answers. Yes, same old Keith, always a man of big words. Their eyes meet for a second, before Keith looks down while Shiro steps back to invite him in.

“I just… wanted to check on you. You’re alright? Today’s been quite… messy.” Messy was not the word Shiro would have used. More like headfirst crash and burn.  
  
“Yes, just… a lot.” It was the understatement of the century, but his humor turned just as black as the colour of his lion when he spent the last year killing aliens for the pleasure of his captors. “Want to tell me what I missed on earth while I was away?”

Keith shrugged. “Not much. You left, they told us there was a pilot error and I punched Iverson in the face. They kicked me out of the Garrison for that.”

It’s been a while and Keith might be five inches taller, his features sharper, but when he shoves his hands into the pockets of his pants, his eyes fixed on the ground in front of him, Shiro feels a weight tugging at his heart from the familiar picture. A year and a half had been quite good to Keith. Gone was the boy, his soft angles finally grown into a young adult and cheekbones to die for. If Shiro was gay, he might have just discovered a type.

Oh wait, he is gay. Nevermind.  
  
“You did that for me? Keith, that’s pretty heroic, but…”  
 

He never gets to finish his sentence when they are interrupted by the castle’s alarm system. 

Shiro has to stop himself from letting his eyes fall to Keith’s backside on their way to the bridge, hoping Allura’s just testing the alarms again.

He really needs to find the castle’s showers.

 

2.

 

Shiro knows he is a goner when he sees Keith in a skintight uniform fighting unfair battles on a resistance fighters’ base between two black holes, desperately wanting to see him. So when he watches his own projection talk Keith down before leaving him, sees the devastation in his eyes, it takes a lot for Shiro not to jump down and get him out of the trials. And the moment Red intervenes, he’s uses the chance to get to Keith.

   
When they leave the base to return to Red, Keith is staring back at him, causing his heart to skip a beat. He does not even try to hide the staring, which flusters Shiro even more. Back into the Paladin uniform, Keith strikes an devastatingly handsome sight, with his hair tousled from fighting too many Blade members, the chest armor hugging his shoulders just right and maybe Shiro has to gulp before regaining his composure.

“So apparently we ruined the mission. You okay?”, Keith asks and Shiro stumbles over his own feed. “Yes? Yes!” He has to convince himself. With emphasis. “It’s good to see you back in the Paladin uniform.” 

Placing a hand on Keith shoulder, he hopes not to make an utter fool of himself. But Keith smiles at him and brushes their shoulders together before putting on his helmet and it’s damn hard to fight that tugging in his stomach when he hears Keith’s voice, oddly soft. “Yes, feels better.” And before Keith can rush past him, Shiro gets a hold of his wrist, pulling him closer. It’s a bit awkward where their helmets touch instead of their foreheads, Keith just gazing into his eyes, full of thrust und adoration and stardust.  
  
“Just… What you said before. About wanting to see me…”, Shiro never manages to finish his sentence and they both startle at a cough which makes them jump and puts a safe distance between the two Paladins and a ting of red on both their faces. Damn those Galra.

   
Kolivan and another blade member chuckle and in an instant Shiro wishes for the two black holes just to swallow them whole to prevent him from his embarrassment.  
“Do you have some space for two additional passengers on your lion?”

   
On their flight back in Red, Shiro’s hand never leaves Keith’s shoulder.  
So much for ruining the mission.

 

3. 

 

Three time’s a charm, or so he tells himself when Lance lets it slip that Keith tried everything to find him when everybody had already given up on him. And it hits Shiro heavy in the heart. How could Keith be so pure?

   
He remembers a younger Keith, soft edges and a wall of ice around himself, not letting anyone near him. He remembers the abrasions on his knees and the black eyes where James Griffin had hit just right to leave his mark on Keith’s face for a week. But he also remembers passion, determination, the fire in Keith’s eyes when he got out of the simulator for the first time. His perfect scores. It was then that Shiro decided he never wanted to give up on this precious spitfire.  
   
It’s so many years later now that he cannot believe what a devoted man Keith has turned into. It fills his chest with pride and adoration and he has to convince himself that, no, there is no spring in his step on his way to look for Keith.

   
As the leader he tries to pull off, Shiro knows all their usual hiding spots. Know that he can find Hunk in the kitchen and Lance in the weird upside-down pool, while Pidge is buried in her room or working at the Teleduv. He knows Keith is hiding on the training deck, because literally fighting of any emotions was his way of keeping his sanity.  
   
Because that’s what they all tried to pretend. Saving the universe and fighting Zarkon comes first. But in a castle where privacy is a completely alien concept (he high-fives himself for the pun but swears he will never let Lance know he just made it up), it can be hard to fight cabin fever or to find a moment to breath.

   
So when he sees Keith trying to get through level six on the training deck, only wearing a black shirt and sweatpants, his hair tied back and sweat on his neck, he blames his pounding heart on his utter shortage of any human contact for a year and the general lack of privacy – even when there are five healthy and young adults on board of the castle of lions, their Kleenex supply surely depleting.

Since starting his training with the Blades, Keith’s fighting style has grown so much smoother, Shiro notices and tries to enter the deck as quiet as possible before leaning against the nearest wall, not wanting Keith to notice him. It’s a pleasure to just watch the fast and feline movements and the sharp sounds of a blade cutting through air.

“Hey Shiro, like what you see?” It’s not before the computer system ends level six and Keith is panting, sweat forming on his forehead, that he turns to him and there is something in his eyes Shiro’s seen on the battle field before. Determination, a hint of smugness. It’s challenging, way too challenging for Shiro to let it slip, and his feet drag him forward.  
  
“Best out of three?” Shiro’s Galran arm turns into a sword when he settles into a fighting stance in front of Keith. “Yes, sir.” And Keith lunges forward, his sword aiming for Shiro’s right side. Where Keith knows he can block it with his prosthetic. “Don’t make this easy for me, Keith.” 

Passion fuels his words and Shiro takes a step back, only to lash out with his sword arm again, reaching for an opening in Keith’s stance.

   
They fall into an easy back and forth. It’s like a dance, Shiro thinks, just with both of them fighting for the lead. Keith gets a bit cocky, letting his blade swing a bit more than necessary, using it as smoothly as if it was part of his body. Shiro has to be swift to keep up with Keith’s pace, but when he sees an opening, he ducks down and manages to land a hit, just above the groin, and Keith stumbles back, trips over his own feet, landing on his ass with an un-majestic hiss coming from his lips.

“Yield?” Shiro offers his hands and Keith takes it, letting him be pulled up in the motion. He wipes his face with his forearm and, while Shiro is still a bit startled from the sheer strength pulling against him, he looks so smug. “It’s good to have you back, Shiro.”

It’s easy to fall for this, to fall into the provocation, into their dance, so Shiro can’t help but let his teasing words reach out. “Did you miss me?”

“You never gave up on me. Now it’s time for me to never give up on you.”

   
For a second Shiro sees Adam flashing before his eyes, his last words ringing in his ears ‘Don’t expect me to be there for you when you return.’ And then there is Keith in front of him, who, instead of waiting, would turn whole galaxies upside down just to find him. And everything is wrong and everything it right at the same time when Keith lunges for him, his eyes filled with a fire Shiro himself has thought lost before leaving for space.

It’s a short second Shiro lets his mind slips, but it’s enough for Keith to take a chance and the next time Shiro lunges out, Keith gets a hold of his arm and turns him around as if it was the easiest thing, bending him down and letting his sword rest against his neck.

The move looks awfully familiar. “Your Blade training's paying off, hu?”, Shiro’s breath comes in huffs and he can feel equally short breaths on his neck where he’s closest to Keith. He can practically hear the smug grin in his voice when Keith says “You think we’re sitting around drinking tea? Now yield.” 

But Shiro does not feel like yielding, not now, and so he turns his leg just a little and it hooks with Keith’s, taking his footing along with his own. The energy he generates by spinning as fast is enough to catch the rest of Keith off guard and so the younger man tumbles to the ground again, taking Shiro with him where their arms are linked. Keith uses the torque to turn them in the air last moment and Shiro can’t help but smile when he finds himself pinned underneath the other man, his wrists held down and their foreheads touching. He blames it on the adrenaline.  
  
“Yield, oldtimer?”, Keith pants and Shiro never wants to wipe the smug grin from his face. Keith’s hair clings to his forehead, sweat pearling from his jaw and he has never looked so perfect to Shiro. They are so close, he can clearly see the bewildered gaze in Keith’s eyes and Shiro is sure he looks just as muddled, just as lost and overwhelmed by their sudden intimacy. His eyes flick to Keith’s lips and he _knows_ this does not go by unnoticed, but the urge to simply bend upwards and kiss the younger man is there, is real.

 

But three time’s never a charm, and so they hear the door of the training deck open and Lance’s unmistakable voice fills the room. “Urgh, guys, what are you doing?!”

Keith’s eyes widen in shock as he stumbles to his feet. The image of a cat thrown into water comes into Shiro’s mind and he has to keep himself from grinning. “No, actually, I don’t want to know.” Lance groans in a typical theatrical fashion and covers his eyes with his hands when Keith furrows an eyebrow while Shiro rolls his eyes.

It’s not as if they were naked or making out. Shiro catches himself thinking what Lance would have stumbled into if he’d arrived five minutes later anyway – and he has to fight the blush forming on his checks.

“Just wanted to tell you dinner’s ready. If you guys are not occupied…” Shiro can see Lance peeking through his fingers, a gloating smile on his face. Keith’s loud voice startles them both. “Shut up, Lance!” The blush on Keith’s face is pretty much sticking out a mile, but he’s still oh so intimidating, barking at Lance who retreats at the speed of light, babbling something that could pass as ‘Geesh, is nothing sacred anymore?’.

When he notices that Shiro’s still lying on the floor, Keith bends down a bit, offering his hand. “Don’t know about you, but I could use some food”, pulling Shiro up in the process. He then grabs the hem of his shirt and uses it so to wipe the sweat from his neck. And Shiro has to bite his lip, trying to avert his eyes from the exposed waist. He grabs a bottle of water instead, fidgeting with its lid.

So they make their way to the dining hall of the castle, still a bit flustered and awkward and, no, Shiro thinks, three time’s definitely not a charm.

“And please wash your hands!”, Lance screams from the other end of the hallway and Shiro’s laugh fills the air while Keith rolls his eyes.

  
4.  
 

Dying is not supposed to feel like an actual pleasure. But so is coming back from the dead, in a body that has never been his to begin with. So Shiro has to learn to feel again, every touch new and more intense than he remembers.  
  
Keith had returned one day with his mother, two years older and hotter and damn those shoulder blades of doom. It didn’t help that he crossed the universe to safe Shiro from the dead and might have said “I love you” in the process.

Shiro never thought he could be happy about such a simple thing as goosebumps, and when he spends their journey back to earth in the black lion and his day consists of watching Keith yell commands to the other Paladins with his eager voice, finally growing into the leader he wanted him to be, the goosebumps are nothing he can prevent, so he might as well roll with them.

He cannot help but feel proud, and so he tells him. “Good job Keith, keep it up”, placing his remaining arm on Keith shoulder where it belongs.

“Thank you, Sir”, Keith turns his head to him with a cocky smile. And Shiro has to excuse himself for a while into the back of the lion and wishes the robot cats came with shower stalls.

  
 

Getting to know his new body also comes with waking up with a tent in his pants on a regular base and this, he admits, comes in terribly inconvenient when forced to share the crammed bunk of Black with Keith, with a space wolf, and with Keith’s mother. Who also happens to sleep with her blade underneath her pillow and stares intensely at Shiro every night before she retreats to the other side of the small hangar space provided by the black lion to sleep on the floor.  
  
Even after Krolia leaves to find the remaining Blade members, Shiro and Keith keep sharing a small alcove in the back of the lion. It’s not meant for two people, but they both are stubborn and Keith insists that Shiro sleeps on a mattress while Shiro insists that it’s not his lion.

“It’s yours too, Shiro, no need to argue”, Keith snaps, his fingers curling into fists. And Shiro stops, because in the end it’s been a long day and they are both tired and his heart might beat a tick faster just from thinking about sharing a mattress with Keith. So they crawl underneath the same blanket the first night, facing opposite directions, their backs merely touching and nobody dares to move.

It’s Keith who steers from a nightmare that first night. Even in the dark, Shiro can see how his eyes are widened in shock, can hear how his breath comes in fast and hard. “The clones. Shiro. I…“, he feels Keith hand reaching for his, while the other is fisted into the blanket. And it’s Shiro who tugs him in, softly whispering “It’s okay, I’ve got you”, against his temple where his pulse gradually slows down, his waist encircled by Shiro’s only arm.  
 

It becomes their preferred sleeping position with Shiro leaving the bed first thing after sleeping and trying to hide the fact his body is very delighted to be pressed against Keith’s hips every night. He’s pretty sure Keith would have noticed by now because he’s never been a heavy sleeper to start with. But it’s easier to pretend and when they wake, they are back to talking about their route for the day instead of Shiro’s morning wood.

   
In the end it does not surprise him when he wakes up after their first night without nightmares as the little spoon and feels his body react in all the right places to the soft press of Keith’s limbs against his. Even when they are million miles from home and he’s one arm down, he never wants to wake up to anything but Keith nuzzling his neck again, drowsy from sleep. From the way his hips are pressed against Shiro’s thigh, Shiro assumes parts of him are enjoying grinding lazily against Shiro just as much as Shiro does.  
  
He could pretend he’s asleep, could cough and start an awkward conversation they need to be having at some point. But instead, he turns and whispers “Good Morning”, before his lips find Keith’s, regardless of morning breath and the weird angle.

The soft whimper that escapes Keith's lips in the process might be the hottest thing he has ever heard and Shiro sinks into the kiss, his hand cupping Keith’s jaw while he feels the other man’s fingers against his chest, pulling him closer by grabbing at his shirt like holding on to a lifeline.

There should be warning bells, because it’s too good, both of them finally getting lost in this kiss Shiro has longed for so long and never wants to end.  
 

Instead, there is zap and a blue flashing light illuminating the hangar.

   
Two seconds later Shiro can feel the sudden weight of the space wolf on top of him and a wet nose pressed against his cheek.

“Hi Kosmo,” Shiro groans while Keith pulls back so fast his head slams into the wall and his body falls from the mattress. Shiro’s heart is racing and he tries to keep it cool with a chuckle, as he hears the soft ‘thumb’ when Keith’s ass hits the floor. Keith glares at his wolf and then at Shiro, scratching his head where he’d hit the wall. “Don’t laugh.” 

And Shiro is not sure if he could just fall even more in love, but he chuckles again, when a flustered Keith heads off for the lion’s cockpit.  
  
  
“I’m gonna ask Hunk for breakfast.”

 

5.  
  
When Shiro visits his hospital room for the second time, he brings a bunch of flowers and is greeted by Krolia on her way out, a warm smile on her lips, her hand on his shoulder.  
  
There is nothing fancy about the simple room in the medical bay of the Garrison, but one window is open to let in some fresh desert air and the sounds of cadets shouting on the premises below. It feels like old times and not as if they had just fought a war to save their home planet.  
  
Keith sits up in bed when he sees him enter. “Hey Shiro, took you long enough.“ He has a smile on his face and a spark of hope in his eyes and Shiro feels relief in his chest, seeing Keith getting better every day. 

“Yes, being a savior of the universe comes with signing a lot of papers.” He finds an empty vase on the small table in the corner of the room, where he knows Hunk had left some flowers before, so he fills it with the bouquet he brought. Even though he knows Keith has never been the flowers kind of guy, he still can’t help himself, putting the vase right in front of Keith’s view. The dull colours of the hospital room are too depressing to look at, anyway.

“Garrison’s golden boy back in action, hu?”, he hears Keith chuckle as he sits down on the chair next to the bed, where he assumes Krolia was seated just a couple of minutes ago.

“So what’s next?” Keith stares down at his blanket, fidgeting with the fabric, and Shiro knows what he wants to ask. So he sighs.

 “Eager to go out there again?” He can’t help but focus on Keith. On the bandage around his head, on the scar on his face and every lasting mark that fighting for peace has left on Keith’s body and mind.

 “You know me, patience has never been my virtue”, Keith says, and it sounds sad, so sad and impatient. Shiro knows he wants to provoke him, knows how Keith has learnt to handle his thirst for action, so he places his left hand on Keith shoulder, drawing the other man’s gaze in.

“Give yourself some days to heal. Believe it or not, the world can wait a few days for the Paladins to get well.” There might have been quite a discussion with Iverson, but they had finally bought the Paladins some time, giving them as many days to recover as possible. 

And he knows there’s protest coming when Keith eyes glint at him. “But I want to go out there, I want to help. Black could…” “Keith!”

Shiro hates to get loud, to go full Captain Shirogane on him again, but he knows Keith’s condition. Knows firsthand how fragile he looked when he was crushed beneath the controls of the black lion, blood on this face and barely breathing. 

The sound of the monitor controlling Keith’s heart frequency beeping fills the silence in between their words, a small reminder of a time when Shiro had to listen to his friend’s heart beating dangerously slow on a 20-minute ride from Black back to the Garrison; the mind-numbing fear still haunting his veins.  
  
  
“Please, give yourself some time. If not for yourself, do it for me, okay?” Keith’s eyes find his, wide and confused, searching Shiro’s face.  
  
“Keith, when you fell from space, I…” Shiro fumbles with the bedsheet, his eyes anywhere but on Keith. He hears a sharp intake of breath and it might be everything he needs to gaze at the man in front of him. “It was the worst moment of my life. And I died, so I know what I’m talking about.” His chuckle is so empty, but so is his heart when he thinks of being without the Paladins. Being without Keith.  
  
So he lets his hand come up to Keith’s face, fingers gently sweeping over the scarred skin on Keith’s cheek. “All I could think of was how I was so afraid of losing you. When we got you out of Black, it hit me. I never told you I…” Shiro’s Altean hand finds Keith’s fingers and squeezes, maybe a bit too rough, because Keith’s eyes widen even more.

“Told me what?” He might have imagined Keith leaning in a bit, but he swears he can feel his breath on his face. “Keith, I…”

  
But considering their luck, of course they are interrupted when the door swings open and nearly knocks a hole in the wall, revealing Lance, Pidge and Hunk and the biggest box of chocolates he has ever seen.

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty, took you long enough”, Lance exclaims while flinging himself on the bed and the room erupts in laughter.

 Shiro can’t help but treasure this sacred moment, a beacon in this post-war mess and a dawn of hope for what they are fighting is for.

 

  
+1

 

War is over and there’s music and food and dance.

The air hangs heavy with laughter when they all try to forget what price they had to pay for peace and the future of the universe; and the glass of wine in Shiro’s hands feels a bit heavy and tainted with guilt. 

But Keith is next to him and wraps delicate fingers around his Altean wrist, just like that, his smug smile on his lips a familiar picture. He follows his line of sight to where Lance is occupied with trying to do something that could come close to dancing. Where Coran has Hunk backed into a corner with his stories of Balmeran curting rituals – leaving Hunk bright red and flustered. And where Pidge and Matt are having a heated discussion and Shiro is sure he picks up the line “And why would you cut your hair?”.

And he understands what Keith wants to say, so he pulls him closer, their lips brushing gently. “Think we could sneak out, just the two of us. Alone?” Keith eyes are glassy and there is a blush underneath his smugness, but he wiggles his eyebrows, a seductive tone in his voice. And Shiro laughs into his lips. “Took us a while.”

   
When they sneak out without anyone noticing, they might be a bit too enthusiastic, hands intertwined, their steps speeding up before they knock into a wall of the hallway, sharing hot breaths between their lungs and hot fingers grazing soft skin.

And when the they stumble into Shiro’s room half a minute later they trade wet kisses and whispered promises, soft moans filling the air between them.

War is about losing and winning and finding joy in things he had never dared to be possible.

And, oh, joy Shiro has found, hidden in the eyes of the man who would cross galaxies to find him.

A long time ago, Shiro wished his life would give him some slack.

His life gave him Keith instead.

And that is all he could have asked for and more, he thinks, while they tumble to the ground.

 

_The beating of our hearts is the only sound._

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
> Feedback
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * Constructive criticism
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>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

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> 
> Come and cry with me on Twitter <3: DropsofAutumm


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